Ex-Mayor Giordano seeks release from jail

Michael P. Mayko

Published 7:26 pm, Saturday, May 4, 2013

FILE - In this Feb. 201, 2001 file photo, Waterbury Mayor Philip Giordano poses in front of City Hall in Waterbury, Conn. Giordano is serving a 37-year prison sentence after being convicted in March 2003 for sexually abusing two girls. Federal prosecutors are expected to file a response on June 13, 2011, to Giordano's latest appeal of the sentence. (AP Photo/Steve Miller, File)
Photo: Steve Miller, ST

He was once the mayor of Waterbury who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate and had his eye on a presidential appointment.

Instead, Philip Giordano has been sitting in federal prison for the past decade, serving a 37-year term for forcing the 8-year-old and 10-year-old female relatives of a crack-addicted prostitute to perform oral sex on him in various places including a police car, his law office and City Hall.

Now, after two unsuccessful bids to overturn his conviction, vacate or reduce his sentence that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Giordano is once again trying to reverse his fate by claiming ineffective assistance at trial by his then-lawyer Andrew Bowman of Westport.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill will hear legal arguments on that matter before determining if an evidentiary hearing, in which Bowman and others would be required to testify, is necessary.

Such a hearing would be similar to the one recently conducted in state court for Michael Skakel.

Skakel, a Kennedy cousin from Greenwich, claimed ineffective assistance by his lawyer, Mickey Sherman, during his 2002 trial for a murder that occurred 27 years earlier.

Fitzpatrick said any notion "that Phil Giordano is sitting in prison because of anything Andy Bowman did or didn't do is utterly ridiculous."

Giordano was arrested July 25, 2001, after FBI agents investigating possible municipal corruption in Waterbury heard wiretap conversations involving the prostitution of the two young girls. At the time, Giordano was cooperating with the federal probe which included investigating mob ties to Waterbury City Hall.

Following a trial, Giordano was convicted on 16 of 18 charges, including using his position as mayor to force the girls to perform sexual acts on him as well as using a cellphone to arrange these sessions.

The prostitute, Guitana Jones, the mother of one of the girls and the aunt of the other, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her involvement.

Both sentences were imposed by now-retired U.S. District Judge Alan H. Nevas.

In 2009, Underhill awarded the two child victims $8 million each in damages from Giordano as a result of separate federal lawsuits.

Aaron Romano, a Bloomfield lawyer appointed by the court to represent Giordano, claims Bowman erred in three crucial areas during pre-trial and trial proceedings. He charged in documents filed Friday that Bowman failed to subpoena Department of Children and Families records showing the two victims were repeatedly prostituted with other men for money by Jones.

He also claims Bowman should have opposed Nevas' jury instruction that the girls complied because of Giordano's position as mayor.

Additionally, Romano claims Bowman should have challenged the FBI's wiretap application, which he charges was based on an unreliable informant. If successful, this could have prevented conversations between Giordano and Jones from being heard by the jury.

The informant, identified as Timothy Longino, worked on several of Giordano's campaigns. He was fired after $150,000 was discovered missing, according to court documents filed by Romano. However, Longino was never charged with a crime.

Romano also disputes Longino allegations Giordano had ties to the Genovese crime family.

Romano said Bowman's failure to investigate and present evidence on these matters "is certainly not a tactical decision."

Giordano is incarcerated in the federal prison in Tucson, Ariz. His projected release date is Nov. 11, 2033.